Barton banned for three matches after accepting violent conduct charge.
Posted on November 11th, 2010 | 101 Comments |
Barton will now miss the matches against Fulham, Bolton and Chelsea before returning to action against West Brom at The Hawthorns on the 5th December.
As I said in an earlier article, there really isn’t much Barton could have done other than accept as he has been caught bang to rights. If he decided to argue the charge the chances are that he would have been banned for more games as the FA would have deemed it as a ‘frivolous appeal’ and slapped an extra game or two on top of the regular three-match ban.
Barton has issued a statement apologising for his behaviour last night, and quite rightly so!
“This season I have really been enjoying my football and although I have been on the receiving end of a few robust challenges, I have, up until now, remained calm in the face of provocation and just carried on with the game. But I hold my hands up, I reacted badly to the situation on Wednesday night and I deeply regret it.”
“I have been working very hard to keep that side of my game under control and I think it has showed in the way I have been able to get on and enjoy my football this season. I look forward to trying to get back into the team once my suspension is over and helping the club maintain its good start to the season.”
It’s done now, and Barton will need to be aware that once again the knives will be out for him when he returns to action. Mind you, he can have nobody to blame other than himself, and his lash out at Pederson, whether you want to call it a punch, a slap, or a tickle, was uncalled for.
Joey will have to start from scratch, again!
It’s amazing how the simple turn of a head can have such dramatic impacts. HBA has his leg broke while ref is looking, ref does nothing…carry on, no charge to Nigel De Jong and no suspension. Ref NOT looking at JB and the FA can slap a 3-match ban on him for something relatively harmless. Ah well…them’s the breaks for the Toon. I don’t recall anyone ever accusing NUFC as being a lucky side.
On a dif topic, if Shola is out with Hamstring tear, who replaces him, or does CH revert back to 4-5-1?